The UN refugee agency has declared a major humanitarian emergency in the Middle East as tens of thousands flee escalating hostilities.

GENEVA: The UN refugee agency has declared the escalating crisis in the Middle East a “major humanitarian emergency”. UNHCR’s Director of Emergency and Programme Support, Ayaki Ito, said the situation requires an immediate response across the region and into Southeast Asia.

Ito told a Geneva press briefing that nearly 100,000 people have been displaced within Lebanon. Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees there have also fled back over the border into Syria.

The figures given for the scale of displacement so far are likely an underestimate. Ito added that some 100,000 people have been displaced within Iran in the first days of the conflict.

UNHCR staff in Iran are receiving hundreds of calls daily from Iranians seeking assistance. The displacement follows Israel’s large-scale evacuation orders for southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut.

The orders were issued amid hostilities with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. These hostilities began after a US-Israeli air campaign against Iran started on February 28.

The World Health Organization is stepping up disease surveillance in Lebanon due to the mass displacement. WHO regional director Hanan Balkhy expressed deep concern over the situation.

“It worries us very much, the numbers of the displaced populations and the lack of adequate water and sanitation,” she said.

 The Sun Malaysia